[To...what, exactly, he's not sure; of course he'd thought about this on the way over, and worked through five or six possible scenarios of how this could go, and weighed them on all their merits and weeded out the ones he didn't like in favor of replacing them with ones that did —
But like the first time he'd talked to Jonathan, all the forethought in the world somehow hasn't prepared him for the moment, and he feels blank and unprepared, like none of his best-laid plans will come out of the penumbras into his mind's eye properly.
In that empty space that isn't filled with a legitimate decided-upon course of action, memories begin to crop up — the jail cell, his fight with Avdol, the way she'd screamed and been clinging to Jiji while Avdol dragged him against the bars and he'd fought to stay in, snapping that he was going to hurt someone if he didn't, that he was locking himself up for everyone else's safety, and that was why he wouldn't leave.
That, ultimately, is what gives him the push toward figuring out where to begin.]
He can't...disobey me. That's how it works, for him. He can act, sometimes, without my telling him to — like when he protects me, even if I'm not the one making him do it. But he can't...
[He pauses; his next words are adamant, and steady, and strong.]
He can't do something I won't allow. So there's no way he could ever hurt you, understand?
action;
[To...what, exactly, he's not sure; of course he'd thought about this on the way over, and worked through five or six possible scenarios of how this could go, and weighed them on all their merits and weeded out the ones he didn't like in favor of replacing them with ones that did —
But like the first time he'd talked to Jonathan, all the forethought in the world somehow hasn't prepared him for the moment, and he feels blank and unprepared, like none of his best-laid plans will come out of the penumbras into his mind's eye properly.
In that empty space that isn't filled with a legitimate decided-upon course of action, memories begin to crop up — the jail cell, his fight with Avdol, the way she'd screamed and been clinging to Jiji while Avdol dragged him against the bars and he'd fought to stay in, snapping that he was going to hurt someone if he didn't, that he was locking himself up for everyone else's safety, and that was why he wouldn't leave.
That, ultimately, is what gives him the push toward figuring out where to begin.]
He can't...disobey me. That's how it works, for him. He can act, sometimes, without my telling him to — like when he protects me, even if I'm not the one making him do it. But he can't...
[He pauses; his next words are adamant, and steady, and strong.]
He can't do something I won't allow. So there's no way he could ever hurt you, understand?